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Tunisia: its problems have solutions

The focus on political processes during democratization often leads to marginalizing the role of economics.  The National Endowment for Democracy, the Legatum Institute, Foreign Policy, and World Affairs have tried to explore the link between economic and political reform through their Transitions Lecture Series: The Role of Economics in Democratic Transitions.  This week, the series presented the case of Tunisia.  The discussion featured

• Mondher Ben Ayed, the President and CEO of TMI, a leading information technology firm in Tunisia and advisor to the Tunisian Prime Minister in 2011 and 2012, presented.
• Larry Diamond, co-founder and co-editor of the Journal of Democracy and director of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University, moderated the discussion.
• Jeffrey Gedmin, President and CEO of Legatum Institute, introduced the speakers.

Ben Ayed argued that the economic fundamentals before the Tunisian revolution were not discouraging.  For the five years before the revolution, Tunisia’s economy grew at 5 percent a year.  The budget deficit reached 3 percent, and inflation was below 3 per cent.  The literacy rate among Tunisians reached about 80 percent of the population, and the status of women was one of the highest in the region. Read more